Kassandra of Sparta

Kassandra (453 BC-) was a Spartan mercenary (misthios) who fought in the Peloponnesian War. She was the maternal great-granddaughter of Leonidas I of Sparta, the step-daughter of Spartan general Nikolaos of Sparta, and the illegitimate daughter of Pythagoras, and she became known as one of the fiercest warriors and mercenaries of ancient Greece.

Early life
Kassandra was born in Sparta in 453 BC, the illegitimate daughter of Pythagoras by Myrrine, the granddaughter of King Leonidas I. Her descent from Leonidas was acknowledged by her stepfather, the general Nikolaos of Sparta, who often trained her in the hope that she would follow in her ancestor's footsteps as a great warrior and leader.

In 446 BC, the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi prophesied that Kassandra's newborn younger brother Alexios would bring about the fall of Sparta in the future, so the citizens of Sparta demanded that Alexios be sacrificed to the Gods by being thrown off Mount Taygetos. As the priest Demetrios Peris prepared to sacrifice Alexios, Kassandra - who was persuaded by her mother's wailing and begging for Alexios' life - rushed up to Peris and attempted to save her brother. However, she accidentally pushed both of them to their apparent deaths, leading to Sergios Livas calling for Kassandra to be executed as a traitor. The Spartan crowd demanded that Nikolaos push his own daughter off the cliff, and, although Myrrine begged Nikolaos to not listen to the crowd, he reluctantly pushed her off the cliff to her apparent death as lightning struck nearby.

Arrival in Cephalonia
Kassandra survived the fall, however, and she escaped to the beach with the broken Spear of Leonidas, which she had been given as an heirloom. She avoided being detected by the Spartans, and she fled out to the open seas on a weak boat, with an eagle, Ikaros, following her. A storm turned her boat overboard and she woke up on the beaches of Cephalonia, where she was greeted by local merchant Markos of Kephallonia. Markos offered her food if she would do errands for him, and he raised her as a good friend and associate of his.

Misthios
Kassandra became a well-renowned misthios on her island, and she often had to deal with Markos' issues. She was able to live in a hovel to the south of Mount Ainos, down the road from Sami, the main settlement on the island; she was still accompanied by the eagle Ikaros, who would often serve as a scout whenever she needed to have a better understanding of an area.

Cyclops
In 431 BC, Kassandra was confronted at her hovel by thugs Iraklis Mangas and Yiorgos Contos, who had been sent by the powerful bandit leader, the "Cyclops of Kephallonia", to collect Markos' debts. Kassandra defeated both of them and told them to warn their master against further intimidation attempts, and she then met Markos' other underling, Phoibe, who told her to meet Markos at his new vineyard. Kassandra was shocked that Markos had gone and bought himself a vineyard while he was broke, and she headed to the vineyard met up with him. Along the way, Cyclops' bandits Tolis Kontos, Herakles Rallis, Minoas Leos, and a few others attempted to murder her, but she slew all of them. Kassandra rebuked Markos for buying a vineyard with other people's money, and she demanded the money that Markos owed her; he told her that the merchant Duris in Sami had the money. However, before she could head to Duris, she was informed by farmer Savvina Patera that Phoibe had been taken by some of the Cyclops' men to Ktimene Beach, where Antigoni Sarantou and Kyriakos Sallis intended to hold her for ransom. Kassandra snuck up on the camp and killed Phoibe's captors before freeing her, and Kassandra then headed on to Sami. Kassandra confronted Duris and was forced to break some of his merchandise in order to extort him into paying back the debt, which he did.

Kassandra then returned to Markos' Vineyard, where she overheard Nikolaos Petrides threatening to kill Markos, Kassandra, and Phoibe if Markos did not pay the Cyclops back. She discovered that Markos had borrowed money from the Cyclops to buy the vineyard, explaining the Cyclops' rivalry with Markos, and she criticized Markos for this unwise decision. Just then, the bowyer Drucilla arrived and told Markos that she needed for him to deal with the bandits who stole her lumber shipment; Markos volunteered Kassandra for the job while pretending that they had just been talking about the situation. Kassandra asked Drucilla if she could repair her bow as a reward in advance, and Drucilla agreed; Kassandra kept her word, and she headed to the Cephalonia Lumber Shipyard to slay Isidora of Cephalonia and the other bandits, and to recover the lumber. She brought the lumber back to Drucilla, who was impressed that she had kept her word, and she rewarded her.

Kassandra then returned to Markos, who told her that some well-equipped newcomers had arrived on Cephalonia and taken up refuge in an abandoned house. Sure that these were the Cyclops' men, Markos sent Kassandra to deal with them and steal their riches. She made short work of them, but she discovered that they were, in fact, employed by a mysterious man named Elpenor of Kirrha, who was searching for Penelope's woven shroud, an ancient artifact. Elpenor finished off his own wounded henchman Lykourgos Rondos and recruited Kassandra, saying that it would be in both of their best interests to know each other; he gave her a rowboat and sent her to find the priceless shroud. He had Kassandra sail to Ithaca, where she infiltrated Odysseus' Palace, retrieved the shroud, killed Kritobulos of Ithaca and his bandits, and freed the imprisoned Odessa of Megaris, a descendant of Odysseus who had gone on a pilgrimage to her ancestor's palace. Kassandra escorted Odessa back to her boat, and she flirted with her, telling her that her bravery made her cute, and that she should be her own person. Odessa was uninterested in Kassandra at first, and Odessa decided to return to Megaris, disappointed by the poor state of Ithaca and her ancestor's palace.

Kassandra rowed back to the abandoned house, where Elpenor told her to keep the shroud; Kassandra realized that she was being tested. Elpenor then tasked her with assassinating a general known as "The Wolf of Sparta" at Megaris, and Kassandra lied to Elpenor when she said that she had a ship to sail. Kassandra then headed to Sami to get a ship, but, along the way, she met priestess Demetra Valli at the Temple of Zeus at Cephalonia. Valli asked Kassandra if she could find the legendary Spear of Kephalos, and Kassandra decided to do so voluntarily. On her way to find the shroud, she chanced upon bounty hunter Talos the Stone Fist - who had been hired by the Cyclops to kill her - at the local marketplace. She ambushed him and proceeded to stuff him full with arrows before finishing him off with melee weapons following a bloody fight which left Kassandra injured and Talos dead. Afterwards, she walked to the nearby Melissani Cave, where the spear was said to have been buried after Kephalos had accidentally killed his wife Prokris with it. She dove underwater and swam deeper into the cave, later surfacing and lighting a torch as she searched for the spear. She killed bandits Haris Theodoros and Nikitas Panagos before retrieving the spear, and she brought it back to the priestess, asking nothing in exchange; the grateful priestess swore that she would never forget Kassandra's kindness, and that she had the temple's support.

Kassandra went on to speak with the shipbuilder Telemenes, who told her that the cost of a new ship would be 100,000 drachmae. However, he told her of the arrival of the Cyclops at Kleptous Bay, so Kassandra headed there to confront him and steal his ship, the Adrestia. Kassandra confronted the Cyclops at the docks as he drowned Barnabas for supposedly insulting him, and she told him to let him go. She asked if Barnabas had called him "Cyclops" (which the Cyclops found insulting), and she pointed out that he only had one eye as she revealed his obsidian eye in her hand. The Cyclops told her that he would not have Markos killed for having her steal the eye if she would return the eye to him, but she instead stuffed it in a goat's anus, provoking a fight with the Cyclops. Kassandra went on to slay the Cyclops, bandit captain Triton of Kleptous, and their men, and she freed Barnabas, who told her that he was a sailor and the captain of the Adrestia. The two of them headed to the harbor to gather their crew, and Kassandra found that Phiobe and Markos were there as well. She bade farewell to both of them, with Phiobe initially seeking to join Kassandra, but ultimately giving her the wooden pet eagle Chara as a gift, and securing a promise that they would meet again; Markos said that he would miss being a part of the "dynamic duo" with Kassandra, and he decided to make Phiobe his new assistant.

Life on the high seas
Kassandra spoke with Barnabas as they sailed out to sea on the Adrestia, telling him that they were going to Megaris to assassinate "The  Wolf of Sparta"; Barnabas asked who would want to kill "Nikolaos of Sparta", and Kassandra realized that "the Wolf" was her father. They set out to sea, and Barnabas decided to allow for Kassandra to learn to sail by retrieving Barnabas' stolen cargo from some of the late Cyclops' pirates, who had taken the cargo from Barnabas as he was being drowned at Kleptous Bay. Kassandra rammed the pirate ship and had her crew use javelins and arrows against the enemy crew, and she then proceeded to lead a boarding action. She slew the pirate captains Vettias the Pirate and Philon the Pirate, and she and her crew looted the ship before returning to the Adrestia and leaving the pirate vessel to sink. She then abducted the stranded archer Phemios from a marooned bandit camp off Phocis, and Barnabas convinced him to join the crew as its first lieutenant. As the ship approached Megaris, Kassandra and Barnabas found that three Athenian ships were blockading the city. The Adrestia proceeded to engage in battle with the Athenian ships, sinking all three of them to break through the blockade. The ship then went on to dock at Megaris harbor, where Kassandra disembarked.

Siege of Megaris
Kassandra was greeted by the Spartan officer Stentor, who thanked her for destroying the Athenian fleet. He told her that she had arrived in time to watch his father achieve a glorious victory, and Stentor revealed that he was Nikolaos' adoptive son; Kassandra attempted to explain to Stentor that she was therefore his sister, but Stentor told her that both of Nikolaos' children had died a long time before (neither Nikolaos nor Stentor knew of Kassandra or Alexios' survival). When Kassandra asked if she could speak with Nikolaos, Stentor said that he was in command of the entire Spartan army, and that she would have to earn that place. She therefore decided to join in the Spartan effort to conquer Megaris.